"If a picture paints a thousand words, then what you've just seen is worth about a million words." - Vin Scully

I think that's what the Hall of Fame broadcaster said in a scene from Ken Burns' documentary "Baseball" but if it isn't it's pretty close. And I can't recall if he said it after seeing the Mets rally to beat the Red Sox in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series or after calling Kirk Gibson's dramatic home run in the first game of the 1988 World Series.

No matter. The quote's essence relates perfectly to John Haeger, The Oneida Daily Dispatch's long-time photographer. And anyone who has watched him work, or seen his results, knows the main has painted enough words to write "War and Peace" 15, maybe 20 times.

Christmas Eve 2011 is as good a time to talk about what Haeger has meant to the area, especially in sports. If Cal Ripken were in this business, his name would be Haeger. The man shows up every day he's supposed to - and many he's not - and photographs high school football, basketball and baseball.

And soccer and field hockey, and tennis. And cross country, volleyball, wrestling, softball, track and field, swimming, golf, and anything else Dispatch-area high school kids compete in. The last point is significant because some photographers and newspapers focus only on the so-called "major sports."

Not this paper and not Haeger. Often he'll drive across the county to photograph an afternoon bowling match, come back to catch the beginning of a wrestling meet then catch the middle of a basketball game, all to make sure the

paper is as fair as possible and as many teams get covered.

Haeger covers the bigger schools like Oneida, Vernon-Verona-Sherrill and Canastota in depth, but he does so with schools like Madison, Hamilton and the like and he does them as much justice as the big schools.

That's important to a lot of people. Every parent wants their kid to be recognized when they do something well and the kids do, too. Growing up near Syracuse, my high school teammates and I realized it'd be very unlikely if our names or pictures appeared on the pages of the Post-Standard or the now-defunct Herald-Journal.

There was too much competition. The big papers spent more time focusing on pro sports, Syracuse University, LeMoyne College and other area colleges, the Syracuse Chiefs and the other minor league sports teams and amateur competitions than on high schools. And when high school sports were covered, it was usually the so-called "major sports" and usually just the biggest schools.

So having Haeger go the extra mile all these years - on top of all the news photos he has taken during the daytime - has meant scrapbooks are a lot fuller than they'd likely be elsewhere. And with great pictures. I can't count how many times he caught a girl as she was about to kick the winning goal in a soccer game or a boy making a birdie putt to help earn medalist honors or a boy making a touchdown-saving tackle.

And he still does, and gets recognized by his peers often for doing so. Haeger has won more newspaper awards than any photographer that I know, and I'm sure he'll keep winning them. He'll do so by trudging onto a muddy cross country course in 40-degree weather. He'll do so on a snowy night to be in a steamy gymnasium watching kids play basketball. And he'll do it on sweltering summer evenings as kids play in field hockey leagues, American Legion baseball games or in local tennis tournaments.

Then he'll go back home, edit his work, spend time with his wife and young kids and do it all again the next day, and the day after that and so on.

So here's a collection of some of his recent work to add to local scrapbooks while giving a good man his just due.

So on behalf of all of his fans I say, Merry Christmas, John Haeger! And a Happy New Year!